1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the information processing field. More particularly, the invention relates to a mechanism for maintaining current bookmarks and mitigating or preventing the loss of information related to a bookmarked HTML page.
2. Background of the Related Art
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) was developed to allow users on the Internet to easily navigate from within one document to another document. An HTML document is located at an address represented by a Universal Resource Locator (URL), and may reside on a user's own computer, or on another computer networked with the user's computer. In particular, the HTML document may reside on a neworked computer (called a host) with an Internet address. A logical grouping of HTML documents on a given host is known as a website and all websites taken together constitute the World Wide Web (WWW).
A user selects, loads and displays HTML documents utilizing software called a browser. HTML documents displayed by the browser generally contain areas that, when selected by a user, cause the browser to load and display other HTML documents. A selectable area (known as a hypertext link) may be textual, graphic, or generally any designated area of a displayed HTML document. Each hypertext link is associated with a URL of a destination HTML document, which is loaded and displayed when the link is selected by the user.
Occasionally, a user may find URLs of interest which merit revisiting. Therefore, the user needs a convenient method of storing and retrieving the URL for future use. One common technique of allowing the users to return to selected HTML document is called “bookmarking”. At the user's request, the browser associates the selected URL with a word or phrase of a presently displayed HTML document and stores this data as a bookmark. The bookmark is stored in a bookmark file which is typically resident on the user's computer. At the user's request, a list of textual descriptions in the bookmark file is displayed as a bookmark list. Upon selecting one such description, the browser loads and displays the HTML file found at the associated URL. In this manner, the browser facilitates returning to a preferred URL.
A problem arises when the URL of a bookmark is changed and/or the contents of a bookmarked page are changed. In the former case, the user has lost the ability to retrieve the bookmarked URL and the embedded links associated with that URL. In the latter case, where the contents of a bookmarked page are changed, the user is still able to retrieve the bookmarked page but may have lost the ability to locate the URLs that were originally embedded in the bookmarked page as links, which have since been removed.
The problems associated with changing the URL of a bookmarked site, or the contents of the URL, are particularly detrimental in cases where the bookmarked URL constitutes an index page. In general, an index page is an HTML document having multiple links associated therewith, typically related by a common category. One example of an index page is Javagems having the URL “www.javagems.com”. Javagems is a website having embedded links which are related to the Java programming language. Users typically bookmark this page or similar pages because they provide a convenient way of organizing and loading websites according to similar content. Thus, in cases where the bookmarked page becomes irretrievable due to a change in the URL, the user has lost access, not only to the bookmarked page, but to each of the associated and embedded links.
In an attempt to avoid any inconveniences to users, web page authors or administrators have developed some techniques whereby the detrimental effects associated with moving a web site may be avoided. One such technique is the use of a temporary forwarding page. A temporary forwarding web page is an HTML document that provides a forwarding URL at which the bookmarked site now resides. The forwarding web page is associated with the bookmarked site so that when a user evokes the bookmarking application of the browser to retrieve the URL which has since been moved, the browser downloads the temporary forwarding web page. Typically, the temporary page will provide a hypertext link associated with the forwarding URL, i.e., the new URL, at which the bookmarked web site is now located. The user may then select the link and be forwarded to the web page at its new location. Subsequently, the user may desire to bookmark the new URL, thereby updating the bookmark list to facilitate future visits. In some cases, the web author or administrator may automatically forward the user to the new URL upon activating the bookmarked URL by use of a redirect function enabled by HTML source code as is known in the art. Automatic forwarding obviates the need for the user to manually select the hyperlink associated with the forwarding URL.
While temporary forwarding pages may avoid some inconveniences of cases wherein a URL has been moved or changed, it is not a perfect solution. For instance, even where the web author or administrator provides a temporary forwarding page, the page is, by definition, not permanent. As a result, if the user does not return to the bookmarked site in a limited timeframe, the opportunity to locate the forwarding URL may be lost. Additionally, a temporary forwarding page may not be provided. In such cases, the user is left without a remedy except to locate the web site by manually searching. Further, in the event that the site has been deleted as opposed to moved, the user also loses access to any embedded links associated with the bookmarked site.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for providing a method for maintaining an updated bookmark list.